We, vegans from different communities across the world, propose the following
Vegan Bill of Consistent Anti-Oppression
to begin addressing the issues that continue to decenter nonhumans, while centering a certain type of human, and thus, preventing the NonHuman Animal Liberation Movement from moving forward.
Through this bill, we hope to provide a basis that will help vegans understand some of the issues the movement needs to address in order to effectively, and with justice, advocate on behalf of nonhumans.
We need to get on the same page if we are going to achieve nonhuman liberation effectively and successfully.
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Vegan Bill of Consistent Anti-Oppression
1. Reject saviorism, center non-humans in their own movement.
2. Avoid celebrity veganism, support local activism.
3. Avoid oppressive language.
4. Recognize that accessibility is a very real root issue that veganism must work on (access to healthy foods, classism, homelessness, etc.). Solving root issues is imperative in order to ensure access to all.
5. Promote veganism as a whole, not in pieces (single-issue veganism versus veganism as a movement centered on working against the oppression of nonhumans from human supremacy and one that is consistently against ALL oppression and exploitation – not just for some nonhumans and not a movement that adds to the oppression of marginalized people).
6. Recognize that different communities experience veganism differently. Therefore, ensure marginalized vegans lead on their own issues. Do not target people of color or marginalized groups with campaigns, instead support vegans of color working in their own communities (veganismofcolor.com is a good place to start).
7. Ensure accessibility to vegan events for those with disabilities (i.e. image descriptions, event access for those using wheelchairs, access for people with hearing disabilities [i.e. sign language interpretations], subtitles for videos or transcripts, etc.)
8. Recognize that anyone’s vegan activism is not more important than their participation in oppressive behavior (ie. sexual assault, ableism, racism, transphobia, sizeism, etc).
9. Tolerating human oppression means failing nonhuman liberation because human and nonhuman oppressions are intertwined. Therefore, make a commitment to address other “-isms” when you see them.
10. Ensure marginalized vegans have an equal platform within your organization/event beyond tokenism. Avoid cosmetic diversity. And SUPPORT those vegans by giving them a platform and compensating them as you would non-marginalized vegans.
11. Consent in your activism is vital. You can’t expect non-vegans to be open to a new concept when you violate their needs (ie. triggering someone’s PTSD due to violent imagery).
12. Work on root issues, do not target individuals (i.e. medicine shaming versus campaigning for vegan medicine/against animal testing; infant formula shaming versus supporting efforts towards maternity leave/vegan formula/maternity support;…).
Click the above link for an in-depth explanation of the issues listed above.
Watch the full video of Julia Feliz Brueck and Carol J. Adams as they discussed the
Vegan Bill of Consistent Anti-Oppression at London VegFest 2018 below.
The transcript of the talk is available HERE.